Easter Weekend

Okay so I have a lot to report since last time so this is going to be a LONG entry!We had a great weekend and a fantastic Easter Sunday! On Good Friday I didn't have to work so I did a practice cake for Jessica and Chris' rehearsal dinner that we are having at our place and it SURPRISINGLY didn't turn out horrible. It was my first time working with Fondant and I definitely still have a few kinks to work out but not bad for a first try! Here's a pic:



Don't mind the ugly frosting on the bottom layer- I was testing out a different tip and it didn't work out too well.

My computer has been on the fritz lately and will not let me upload pictures from my memory card so I am having to do all of this from Casey's computer. Anyone know how to fix a 5 in 1 card reader on a Compaq Presario? If so HELP! Casey and I reinstalled the drivers and it still isn't recognizing the card. Anyway - that's why I haven't blogged lately and also why I didn't upload pictures on the Astros post.

On Saturday morning I got up and got ready to drive to Houston to have brunch with Jessica Hook. Jessica is one of Katie's (Casey's sister) best friends and is hilarious and really fun to hang out with. We went to a little cafe called The Daily Review and it was ABSOLUTELY adorable. We sat out on the patio and drank mimosas and then ate a REALLY yummy brunch meal. Jessica had the eggs and bacon and I had the salmon... and it was a-mazing. The prices really aren't bad either (except for the mimosas - $35 for ONE (yes I said ONE!) carafe). Here is a pic of Jessica and I on our "first date" - hahaha:



Yeah don't mind my TRIPLE chin there - hahaha. For some reason guys can never take decent pictures- I guess they don't understand how important a good angle is.

Anyway after brunch we went to the ginormous Forever XXI downtown - their inventory was slightly disappointing - and then to Ikea. I really, really love Ikea. I mean yeah they sell crappy particle board furniture but they have fantastic design ideas and everything is so clean, modern, and fun. Those Swedes really know what they are doing! Jessica got new bedding and some shelving for her room and I got some lamps for our bedroom nightstands. After that I trekked back up to Spring and helped Casey around the house for a while until I had to get ready for Jessica's pre-Bachelorette Passion party.

Jessica's Passion party was SUPER fun. Her friend Jenny from work threw it for her and all the girls from the bank were there as well as Chelsea Snow - one of Jess' best friends from Air France. The consultant Leslie Sanders was awesome as well - she gave out take home samples and we played a lot of games. She also really helped out by advising the girls who lived near each other to have their stuff sent to one house that way we wouldn't have to pay for shipping on each order. I highly recommend if anyone is looking to throw a Passion party to try and get her or my other friend Stephanie Sullivan! Oh and also - Leslie's sister is a baker and baked us TWO penis cakes! They were sooo funny!

Chelsea and I "testing" the products

Jessica making her purchases - the honeymoon is next week!

The whole group

Jessica and her cake :)

Okay now for a total 180. On Sunday we got up and went to church with Casey's sister Shannon and her husband Andy. The sermon could not have been more perfect - Pastor Espinosa is truly a genius and you can just see God working through him. His sermons are so powerful and ALWAYS relevant and current while still maintaining tradition. I found out that they are offering a "Discovery" class starting Sunday April 19th and I emailed Pastor today to ask him some questions. I've had kind of a dirty little secret for a long time and that secret is that I've never been baptised. I never really had a church home growing up and I usually just bounced from church to church and went with friends to whatever church they went to. My first stepdad Ron's parents were Lutheran and I always enjoyed going to church with them, so when I got to college I started going to the small Lutheran church in Nacogdoches for Palm Sunday, Easter, and other major services. When Casey and I started dating I was thrilled to find out that he was Lutheran and I've been going to church with he and his family for a few years now. I always felt stupid for not being baptised since like EVERYONE I know has been baptised and it's kind of scary to be honest. I used to not think it was that big of a deal, but I think it's time for me to settle down in one denomination and be baptised and start going to church more regularly. Hopefully this class will be the start of that process. Anyway - back to Easter Sunday. After church we went over to the Chagla's house (Bash and Sandy's, not Chris and Jessica's) to bring them some Easter Lillies and to wish them a Happy Easter. Bash seemed to be feeling a lot better, but is still struggling with the side effects of Chemo as well as not having a stomach anymore. Everyone please keep Bash and the whole Chagla family in your prayers as Bash finishes up Chemo. After we left the Chagla's we went over to Shannon and Andy's for Easter lunch. Shannon had made Chicken Parmesan and it was AMAZING. Probably the best Chicken Parm. I've had in a long time. Sunday afternoon we went home and worked around the house and I finished (FINALLY) painting the bedroom. I will post pictures as soon as we get the curtains hung and everything arranged where we want it, but BOY is it nice! Anyway, here are some pictures from Easter Sunday:

Casey and his sister Shannon

Me and the man in our cute coordinating outfits! :)

Okay well it's now midnight so I had better get to bed. It's going to be a crazy busy week so there will definitely be more blog entries coming soon. Also please keep the following people in your prayers:

Cory Haskins - my cousin Curtis' little boy is in the hospital in California. He had surgery last week and is recovering well, but they were unable to take him off the ventilator today because his lungs had not yet cleared out all the fluid.

Dan DeHart - my boss Linda's husband is going to the doctor (again) tomorrow to hopefully find out when they can schedule his surgery to remove the brain tumor that is sitting on his pituitary gland. He has lost a portion of his sight so they are hoping that they can remove it well enough to where his sight will come back and he can continue his job as a captain for Continental Airlines. Please keep he and Linda in your prayers - they really need it right now.

Siobhan and Casey Goldin - my cousin Jennifer's best friend in Minot - they are having pregnancy complications with Collin and really need to hear some good news.

15 year old boy's family in Henderson, TX and all other people affected: My dad's hospital got a code the other night and it was a 15 year old boy who had attemped suicide - he didn't make it so please pray for his family and for all of the nurses and doctors that were working that night.

Chris and Jessica Chagla: They are getting married this weekend and are super stressed out. Please let things go as smoothly as possible!

Thanks everyone and have a great week!

LET'S GO ASTROS!

Monday night Casey and I went to Opening Day at Minute Maid Park and it was super fun! I had bought the tickets on Ticketmaster two days after tickets went on sale and I chose the "best available" option. Well Ticketmaster lies because the seats we were in were definitely NOT the best available. They were nosebleed seats but we still had a good time and there were definitely some interesting people to watch. Next time I will buy from Stub Hub! Anyway, about halfway through the game we got up to get nachos (no big deal) and when we got back to our seats there were 3 guys sitting in them. Since we weren't sitting in our correct seats either, we went ahead and sat down in some other empty seats beside them. The guy I was sitting by was ON THE PHONE for at least 20 minutes of the game. This is through me yelling at Carlos Lee, through the 7th inning stretch and me belting out "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" AND "Deep In the Heart of Texas", and again yelling at the Ump. Also - his friends are yelling "DUDE - GET OFF THE PHONE!!!!" at him. I finally look over and he's CRYING. I start to feel bad and motion to his friend that he's crying and the guy goes "YEAH I KNOW WHAT A TOOL!". He finally gets off the phone and turns to me and says "Sorry I'm crying like a baby, but my mom loves me SO much... and I'm having girlfriend troubles" He then proceeded to ask Casey and I for relationship and life advice. Good times. Anyway, that was fun listening to a drunken, sobbing 26 year old man, but finally they got a call from someone in a better section and went down there. The Astros ended up losing, but they gave it a good shot in the 8th and 9th innings. We won last night though so I am very happy about that and EXTREMELY glad it's baseball season again. I just can't get into basketball or football.

GO ASTROS!!!

In other news: My cousin Curtis' son Cory is having surgery today on his heart and I need everyone to pray pray pray for him to make it through and have a good recovery. He was born with a congenital heart defect and the doctors have been saying that they don't think he is going to make it. He made it to his 1st birthday so that's good, but we still need him around here on Earth so please please please pray for him and his family.

Also, please pray for my cousin Jennifer's friend Siobhan (pronounced Sha-von). She is another Air Force wife and lives next door to Jen and Chris up in Minot. She is pregnant with a little boy named Collin and they recently found out he has Asymmetrical Disorder and they are probably going to have to deliver him VERY early so that they can incubate him and hope that his body catches up. Please pray that they don't lose him and that he makes it and grows big and strong.

Siobhan (Collin), her husband Casey, and their son Carson

Trip home to Longview & the Randomness that came with it

So I'm back from Longview and it feels like I was there for a week instead of just a weekend! I felt like it took FOREVER to get to Longview and the pups slept most of the way there in the backseat. I stopped in Nacogdoches to see Sara Baker and let the dogs pee- we only stopped for 15 minutes, but it took me 4 hours to get to Lview- an hour longer than usual. Here are a couple of pics of the pups!

Zach sleeping in the back seat

Riley in his usual spot behind my seat in the floor board

I originally went down to help Daddy paint and clean up around the yard, but we ended up only having enough time to paint the hallway and part of his bedroom. It was definitely a fun weekend though! On Friday, I texted Staci (Barton) on my way to Longview to see if she wanted to go out that night and get some drinks. She of course said yes and told me to give her a call later. When I got to Longview Daddy and I went out to eat at Red Lobster ( I never get to eat seafood because Casey hates it so Dad and I always go get seafood when I'm in town) and while we were waiting, Staci and her mom Susan were walking out- how random right? It was really nice catching up with Susan considering I haven't seen her in like 6 or so years. I also ran into Dana and her son Ricardo Gonzales -the people who lived next door to me in the neighborhood I grew up in. I couldn't believe how big Ricardo was - I hadn't seen him since he was like 12 and now he's 19 and all grown up! After all of that randomness Daddy and I ate and then I met up with Staci at some bar called Player's. She said she was with her friend Shelly and Shelly's boyfriend and his band. It turns out that Shelly's boyfriend is Jay, Carl Waddill's (my friend Jennifer Mawer's fiance) cousin and I have been watching their band play for years. Again - very random. So we were sitting there watching some band called Teazor and the most random of all random things happened. My Uncle Jerry (Austin's dad) walked in! This is SUPER random because he lives in Plano and NEVER comes to Longview. Turns out he was in Longview for a LeTourneau alumni event and was stopping around town at some bars looking to watch some live music and get a beer. He hung out with us for the rest of the night and it was really fun! Here are some pictures:

Staci, me, and Shelly

Me and Uncle Jerry

The band

One of the 1,384,856 pictures Staci and I took that night - haha.

On Saturday Daddy and I got up and went to work out and Mom met us up there. It was a really nice workout facility for such a small campus and we had a nice workout. We stopped by Wal Mart on the way home to pick up paint (and Mom and I picked up some cute shoes too :) ) and we went back to Dad's and got the entry hall finished. The color we (I) picked out is really cool, it's a medium to light dusty green color and was perfect for that space. I was very pleased with my choice :) . After we got done we all went to lunch at Pizza King (my FAVORITE!) and the food was delicious as usual. We each got salads (their house dressing was the BEST) and then we ordered my favorite - pepperoni and sausage and also a small King's Delight which has everything but anchovies on it. I will have to say that we received the absolute worst service we've ever received though and that part sucked. (Warning- mini-rant) I just don't get why someone (I don't care how old you are or if this is your first job or just part time or whatever) chooses to be a waitress and refuses to smile and be cordial to the customers. THAT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. You are there to serve the customer and make them feel welcome and when you ROLL YOUR EYES at them when they ask for a napkin- that's unacceptable. She literally did not smile at us once and acted like we were bothering her when we asked if we could place our order. I have worked in the food service industry at 4 separate restaurants and it's a no-brainer that when you don't smile and you are rude to customers - you don't make money. Why work as a server if you don't want to make money. Why work at ALL if you don't want to make money?? Anyway - she pissed me off and we left her a crappy tip (which is something I NEVER do). (End of mini-rant)

After that Mom and I went out to her house to let the dogs play together. My mom has a 1 year old Boxer named Rocky and a 2 or 3 year old toy poodle named Nikki and they all had sooo much fun playing together. On the way out there we took a couple of pictures of the dogs hanging their heads out of the car window.


When we got to Mom's place I could not believe how pretty it looked! The wild flowers were blooming all over the property and everything was so green and lush! It was gorgeous so of course I took a ton of pictures. For those of you who don't know my mom lives out in an area of Gilmer called Pritchett in between Gilmer and Union Grove/Gladewater in a cute log cabin.

Mom's house and the wildflowers
The dogs running in the lower pastureRiley playing in the flowersSome Indian Paintbrushes - there were tons of them!
All 4 of the dogs playing together

While the dogs played and Mom planted some tomatoes I took a 30 minute long nap in the hammock on the backporch overlooking the pond. OMG that was an AMAZING nap. We really need to get a hammock for our backyard so I can take naps like that more often!

That night we all went to Papacita's to eat (the service wasn't much better than Pizza King unfortunately), got ice cream at Baskin Robbin's, and then went to Mom's Biker Bar to watch one of Daddy's friend's band play. It was surprisingly fun and Daddy's friend Teddy is a hell of a harmonica player. The bar was really small, but was a pretty cool place. The ceiling was lined with bras that I assume women had "donated" to bands that had played there before- that was umm... interesting as well. We called it a night around 10 because we were all really tired and went home and Daddy and I passed out on the couches watching TV.

On Sunday Daddy and I got up and painted his bedroom (another cool color I picked out if I do say so myself :) ) and then went to lunch at McAllister's before I hit the road. On the way home I stopped through Nacogdoches to see Leigh Anne for a few minutes and got home around 5:30. It was SO great to finally see Casey seeing as he had been gone since Wednesday at Chris' bachelor party. They apparently had a really good time and Casey came back really tan and only a little sunburned so that was good. Last night we went out to eat at 7 Leguas which is a REALLY good Mexican food place in Magnolia at the corner of 2978 and 1488. I HIGHLY recommend the Lopez platter - it was SO good and as always - super cheap!

I really did not want to go back to work today, but I found out that I have Friday off for Good Friday so that's AWESOME! Poor Casey has to go back to work tomorrow after being off for 6 days- bummer!

Tonight we are going to the Astros Opening Day- yay!! I am SOOOOOOOOOO glad it's BASEBALL season again and even more stoked that it's getting warmer and warmer every day! I love Summer time!!

Casey is not allowed to go out of town anymore!

So after yesterday's morning fiasco, I thought to myself- okay that's the problem for the week and the rest of the week/weekend should be fine! I was wrong. This morning on my way to work my car was making a really crazy sound, so I pulled over and my tire was flat. Luckily I pulled over right next to this repair shop called Village Automotive and the guys there, Shawn , Chris, and the owner Tony took great care of me! My brake light was out as well so they offered to fix that and aired my tire up for free and were super quick! They are going to be the recipient of cookies and a thank you card today! Well that's all for today - got the bedroom 90% painted last night (yay!) and I'm off to Longview at 1:00!

What a morning!

Wow did my morning ever start out crappy, but it's a funny story so I thought I would share. So I got up this morning at 5:30 to start getting ready to drive over to Brittani Gray's school off of Eldridge and 290. I needed to be there around 8:00 so I figured I would leave at 7 giving myself PLENTY of time to get there. So I get out of the shower and everything is fine and all of a sudden a HUGE rain/windstorm comes through and knocks the power out. Keep in mind that this is before the sun came up so it is PITCH black. I check in Casey's night stand for the flashlight- nothing. Make my way into the kitchen to get the other flashlight- nothing. I finally break down and call Casey to ask him where all the flashlights are- he answers the second time I call and OOPS- he took them all with him. I start to try to light a couple of candles and the freaking butane light won't work. Oh and Casey has thrown away all of his lighters because he is trying to quit smoking. Hahaha, so I finally find a lighter in one of the kitchen drawers and light a few candles. It's pouring outside so both dogs are freaking out and are following me around and tripping me. I finally get back to the bathroom and attempt to put makeup on by the light of one candle - I'm pretty sure it looks like a 4 year old put my makeup on, but that's okay, some makeup is better than NO makeup! I finally get ready to leave around 7:15 and I realize that I parked my car in the garage. CRAP! So I wonder in the garage in the dark to try to figure out how to disable the garage door opener- what a mess! Finally got it disabled and I back out of the garage and I'm on my way. I'm SUPER proud of myself because usually Casey is here to take care of everything for me and I only had to call him once! YAY for me!

The drive to Brittani's school was NOT fun though- it was lightning and thundering like crazy and it was super windy and the rain was really coming down. I finally got there and it was really nice seeing a teacher in action. Brittani teaches 3rd grade at Hairgrove Elementary and she's a great teacher. She's firm but I think with that age you really need to be that way. I am definitely looking forward to becoming a teacher in the future!

As for tonight- Jessica is coming over and I'm going to cook dinner and she's going to help me work on finishing up painting the bedroom! I am so glad to have such a good friend- everyone else turned me down when I asked for help! :) I am planning on cooking her my specialty: a lemony shrimp, basil, and tomato pasta! I got the recipe from Elliott Soeder last summer and I am addicted to it. I usually have it 2-3 times a week! YUM! That's all for now- going to Longview tomorrow and I'm super excited!

American Idol and a quiet night at home

Sometimes it's nice to spend some quality time with yourself and that's what I intend to do tonight! Casey left for Chris' Bachelor party in New Braunfels today around lunch time and will be gone until Sunday afternoon. I am really excited that the guys are going to get to spend some quality time together at Heidelberg. For those of you who don't know, Heidelberg is a quaint little resort in New Braunfels on the Comal River that we've been going to for a few years now. Chris' family has been going his entire life and his mother has been going since she was a little girl as well. It's a really, really special place and anyone that has been knows exactly what I'm talking about.

So my plans for the week/weekend include the following:

• Trying to get the bedroom finished (painting, hanging up decorations, etc.)
• Hanging up some more home decor around the house
• Going to Brittani Gray's school tomorrow to shadow her and drop off some insurance info
• Selling Elliott Soeder a Renter's Insurance Policy (you know you want one too!)
• Working out
• Tanning
• Going to Longview on Friday & Stopping through Nacogdoches to see Sara
• Helping Daddy clean up the backyard and paint his bedroom, hallway, and possibly the living room
• Going to some biker bar with Daddy on Saturday night
• Seeing Lacy Rieger/Akkerman and hopefully Sally East and Staci Barton
  
• Coming back home on Sunday and stopping through Nacogdoches to see Leigh Anne

Should make for a pretty nice and slightly busy week/weekend. Oh and YAY again for Hump Day. You know I love the middle of the week!

As for this past weekend, Jessica's Bridal shower was AMAZING. Dana Berlin did an AWESOME job and it was really special. Jessica made out like a bandit too! Here are some pictures:

The beautiful "towel cake" that Dana made for Jess

Me, Jessica (Healey, soon to be Chagla), and Amanda (Chagla soon to be Vesely)

Jessica opening her gifts and me recording :)

And finally- Jessica, the Domestic Diva - such a cute apron!

Well I think that's about all for now, the dogs are outside barking so I had better go check on them!

Oh and sorry to anyone who fell for my April Fool's Joke (see below)!! :)

BIG news!!

We're Pregnant!! I'm about 3 months along and we're very excited! I should be due in late August or early September. More news to come!

HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!